Darling in the Franxx – 18

Oh boy so much for the thought there might be some brakes on this runaway train. After throwing everything but the dilapidated, post-apocalyptic kitchen sink at us (don’t worry, that’s coming soon), Franxx apparently decided denouement and relaxation is for suckers. Baby making? Why stop there? Darling we’re going full bore family friendly formation, complete with rings, bouquets, and that one odd cousin who thinks wedding crashing is more important than getting drunk at the cash bar. Sure it’s weird Hiro and Zero Two weren’t the ones tying the knot first, but hey, good things take time. Never fear, we’ll get there soon enough.

Considering the prevalent storybook motifs flying around Franxx, I thought any marriage shenanigans would hold off for a later date, but it’s undeniable Mitsuru and Kokoro provide a nice run up to inevitable main pairing night later on. We got the cute scenes, the surprisingly well-made dress, and more than one guy finding some fun and joy in a (for them) completely new experience. Of course Futoshi wound up permanently screwed in every way but the good way—the NTR wheel isn’t lacking for lubrication today—but poor sucker or not, I give the guy credit for knowing a lost battle when he sees one. The impromptu wedding also has the added benefit of revealing the not teased in any way whatsoever love Ikuno has for Ichigo, and one hell of a change in how Ichigo treats the others. Make no mistake, Gorou is still destined to feed the NTR mill once Futoshi is ground up and spit out—because pure love is best love—but damn was that a respectful and “caring” rejection on the part of Ichigo, at least for the moment. A lot of character development in Franxx has been behind the scenes per say (barring those few character-specific episodes), but looking back on where we started it’s amazing just how far these kids have come.

The unsurprising bit of course was in how the happiness of the moment was quickly snuffed out by the Nines. It was really obvious something was going to happen to Kokoro following the events of last week for example, but I didn’t think Mitsuru would be caught up in the moment, or that the solution for our new (old?) APE enemies would be memory erasing. Death and suffering? Sure (it’s about time after all), but “re-indoctrination”? Now that’s just dirty. There’s a few ways to interpret why this was done instead of the trademark disappear tactic though, from APE needing the pilots (remember the 60% casualty rate breaking into the Grand Crevasse?) to Kokoro and Mitsuru having another intended purpose, or simply a few eggheads realizing Hiro and friends would cooperate more if their source of anger was back under their care. After all it’s kind of hard to stick it to man when you have to worry about returning your best friends back to their senses. I imagine, however, that Kokoro’s and Mitsuru’s memories won’t stay locked forever: given Kokoro’s response to a few cherry blossoms their predicament will likely turn out like Hiro and Zero Two, where in the heat of the moment at right time, those memories will come roaring back and let our love birds save the darling couple from some form of doom. Don’t deny, you know it’s coming, we cannot have our main pair flawlessly fuck fly their way to victory now can we?

Such a development too is likely to occur soon given the changes on the APE side of things. If the consternation at the princess assassination attempt is any indication, APE is not a monolithic entity and has a couple of factions chasing after different things. It seems all are united on a goal of achieving eternal life for themselves and humanity (note the order), but what that means and how they plan on freeing themselves from their bodily constraints is anyone’s guess (besides some klaxosaur magic shenanigans). This likely means though that our parasites are going to be thrown back into the thick of things pretty soon, as their consolidation points to a new offensive, one likely bolstered by finally making use of the “key” (Zero Two) that’s been teased for a long while. Franxx has been lacking in the action for a while now after all, and with Zero Two now getting flashes of the past she’s so far thrown off and Hachi starting to have serious regrets, you know the good days can only last for so long.

There’s a storm a brewing for our parasite squad, the only question is what destruction it’ll leave behind in its wake.

- Kokoro obtained the book in episode 7 but has never done anything before hearing the Hiro speech: ”There’s more to our lives than piloting the FranXX”.
- Mitsuru didn’t even know what to do before hearing the Hiro speeches about love.
-Hiro tells them to get married, so they get married.

Even a stone has more personality than P13 team members.

This episode served only to confirm that P13 team members are mediocreand can’t make anything without Hiro.

I mean… duh? Hiro being some sort of catalyst for individuality and free thought for the parasites seems to be at least part of the point of the “experiment” Dr. Franxx has been performing. These kids were grown and indoctrinated to not think for themselves after all. It’s not like they’ve been hiding the fact that all of the other children they’ve introduced have the personalities of a stale loaf of bread.

They’re all characters based of a specific trope so I don’t see how anyone’s better or worse in the first place. And neither of the characters in either show are straight up bad, they’re just tropey. Which isn’t anything new in trigger anime (seriously, little witch academia, kill la kill, Kiznaiver, every single character is more or less a trope, they just hlend well with the story)

Actually, these characters are more in-depth in 18 episodes than Naruto and SAO. I think Naruto over time does a decent job but it is hundreds of episodes. SAO not bad on main characters but I can’t think of much of depth in secondary characters and especially character growth and changes. Again SAO is a lot more episodes so you’re putting an impossible standard on an only 18 episodes so far standards. Have 18 or fewer stories done better yes but all of them I can think of are slice of life or character dramas without any distractions from action or world building.

Zorome didn’t need Hiro’s incentive to go exploring on his own before. Ikuno generally isolates herself so Hiro has little incentive on what she does. Goro tends to come to his own conclusions on his own. Kokoro didn’t really need a push to initially bond with Mitsuru.
I mean, I’m not going to argue that the characters are deep or anything, but they’ve done things without Hiro’s input

Wow, Kokoro acted without Hiro’s input throughout many episodes and just because Hiro comes in near the end of the arc and speeds Mitsuru on a decision he probably would get to with more time on his own and you somehow think Hiro did it all. Taking a lot of episodes to act on a concept totally foreign to one’s upbringing is quite realistic especially as other things have been going on and time skips to move the baby book part forward could not be used. Many characters take initiative and you don’t see it. You don’t even see Ichigo and the crew prevent Hiro from seeing Zero Two.
There has been a lot of character development for a show that has only 18 episodes and is not even a slice of life. I think your confusing attractive character traits with characterization. You can give a character some traits that make them cool fast but that actually often hurts you learning more about the character. Many characters have shown depth and actually had changes in their character called character growth.
All characters are built out of tropes, all stories are built out of troops it is actually impossible to avoid troops see TV Tropes for coverage in depth.

In fact, everyone has been hating on Futoshi but he learned more or less to accept Kokoro and Mitsuru relationship and all his food problem, even if we still don’t know if it were symptoms of bulimia or other type of problem derived from the parasyte condition everyone seem to suffer. For a side character who is more of a comic relief is quite some character developement. The problem I have with this is the mecha combat part has been displaced too much in my opinion, this series is all over the place.

It’s very weird. Futoshi gives us good Mecha action scenes while Mitsuru gives us comedy scenes with the Mech.

Mitsuru, Kokoro and Genista are totally irrelevant or useless during battles, they serve only as as comic relief during battles.

In most mecha series, going back to old Super Robot shows, and even being fortified in shows like Gundam and Eva, performance in mecha combat and a character’s personal turmoils often correlate to an extent. Like when Futoshi lost the Kokorobowl he went apeshit and put on a better show in combat than most supporting characters have been allowed to. So I thought maybe he was going through some significant character growth. But nothing seems to really have happened with him since then, other than accepting the current state of affairs.
On the other hand, Kokoro and Mitsuru are presented as finding some beautiful new combination together and have better synergy on paper but they haven’t gotten to do shit in battle.
I really wish the fight segments felt more in-tune with the supporting characters in this show.

gets relocated in a place filled with parasites that might know him previously as the Godfather

And judging by the place its sounds like another Garden but for mindwiping. There’s probably a lot of them around inside that place that are in quota for mind wipe. Remember that Hiro gave a shitload of kids in the garden names.

It’s unclear even if the doctor knows Hiro has regained his memories. There’s nothing to suggest the cameras come with microphones, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine them thinking Hiro’s and Zero Two’s cutesy time is just an extension of what Kokoro and Mitsuru are doing—i.e. learned from forbidden material and mixed with puberty.

We need to learn more about what Dr. Franxx is experimenting with before we’ll know for certain.

Throughout the entire series, it’s pointed out how different Hiro is from the rest of the children. Maybe naturally born children are just better. Also seems possible that Nana was in love with her stamen, i.e. Not!Hiro, and she’s his mother but then had her mind wiped.

@Pancakes – Wow, Mitsuru get 8 screenshots and Ikuno 5, while the MC didn’t obtain a single screenshot. Man, this brings me back terrible memories of the Fate/Apocrypha threads made by Takaii last year. Your hate for Hiro reminds me of the is the hatred and contempt that Takaii had for Sieg.

I wonder how did the cloning thing go about.
Does APE have the entire global population’s DNA samples to clone from?
How did APE come into power?
Prbably through the Klaxosaur war?
(Created to exploit? Exploit the discovery?)

Feels like there can be a whole prequel like ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’.

The couple who went the furthest..
I imagine a 4-koma with the 2 spending the night figuring out how to make babies, lol.

Wonder when will the kids become the 3rd force?
Rebel and come out on their own.

Wow, now a wedding!
Kids these days :P
Post-human days, lol

Suddenly they become experts at the wedding ritual.

Doesn’t her hairclip press on her head?
Lying down with her hair clipped up.
Ikuno comes clean with her feelings.
Ichigo is the winner of P13 with 2 confessions!
Uh ok, Hiro has 2 as well?

Mitsuru and Ikuno are so alike.
Both have outgoing affections.
Too bad Futoshi can’t help Ikuno.

Oh, they had so much paint…

Will the wedding go as planned?

Woah vivid dream!
Did her horns grow longer in that short time?
Too bad theres no Comiket in this age.

So we have a few episodes of happy life and a little character struggles.
Will the last battle be exceptionaly brutal in contrast?

A last event to commemorate their life at the Mysteltin.
Wanting to do this now perhaps they understand in their hearts that they won’t live long.
Hiro let Mitsuru and Kokoro have it because he is the blue oni?
Or he is just big-hearted.

Its like a play wedding :P

Crash the wedding in full military might!
The uninvited Pastel Mops!

Re-indoctrine?
Like reprograming an artificial newtype?
Just 2?
Sadness begins…
Make Adam and Eve forget.

Wow, the Pastel Mops have no problem taking down Zero Two.

Hachi with hair…
They look pretty old and still pilot Franxx.
Hachi and Nana were not partners.
Nana has always been emotional.

Feels like some of the Sages have their own thinking?
Replacement key?
Free from their bodies?
Human Instrumentality Project?
The creation of the Matrix?

Wow, the Bird Nest.
Has the Rahxephon or some Photonic Research Lab feel.

We see the life of the P13 kids.
We see the life of the current humans.
APE wants to prolong the current humans forever.
The created parasites to archive that aim, parasites seems human.
Parasites are disposable?
Feels like APE is too hung up on old stuff :P
A human thing. Sentimentality.

I hope they will explain the Klaxosaur part soon.
I want to see the big picture.

* put parasite lord and savior Hiro in a giant complex for WEEKS with ALL the other parasites from other plantations
* already flagged on file for ability to empathize with others and making others become self aware
What did Papa mean by this?

Now this reminds me of the CinemaSins YT channel.
Everything wrong with Darling in the Franxx in XX mins :P

I suppose the writer has some deadline so he has no time to take care of these “loose ends”?

Thinking some more, maybe Hiro has yet to show signs of disobedience so APE was not onto him.
The Pastel Mops drumming up on Kokoro may have downplayed other things?
The Sages are too blinded by their big plan for humanity that seem to be coming to fruition.
Also it seems that the Sages are not that one mind.

It can be assumed she probably did become pregnant
- She’s reading a book on having children, not having safe sex
- Considering reproduction was outlawed it seems unlikely there would be any birth control pills or condoms laying around
- The main characters are around that age

Unfortunately I’m thinking she won’t be any more as I think APE will have given her an abortion as they are clearly short of manpower and need healthy Franxx pilots

Throughout the entire series, it’s pointed out how different Hiro is from the rest of the children. Maybe naturally born children are just better. Also seems possible that Nana was in love with her stamen, i.e. Not!Hiro, and she’s his mother but then had her mind wiped.

If there is a fetus it is microscopic at the point they are sent to the indoctrination. As the staff probably does not have training in reproduction unless someone at APE thought to have them look I see no way they know she is pregnant. The rings were a bigger miss but again no one on the staff knows the symbolism of rings and people working for an autocracy in power for a while tend to go into “not my job mode” and do only what they are told to do after all initiative and independent thinking is discouraged.

To be fair Hiro is the only one who had some previous knowledge about the marriage. Zero Two learned the about the marriage with Hiro.

The anime has never ceased to emphasise that Hiro is a lover of the literature and devours any book that comes into his hands. He was always reading or carrying around a book as a child. Not to mention that Hiro was special, unlike everyone else and and that is why he was chosen as leader of all the children, then he had special privileges and access to restricted places as the Lab library. Hiro also attended the Lab, He customarily attended the Lab and his library too.

It’s honestly up in the air whether she is or not. She could just for meme reasons, but I can as easily see her not considering neither her nor Mitsuru have the slightest clue how to procreate besides vague book and biological instincts. As Danny mentions the answer will ultimately be what the story requires.

Another thing to suggest she might be is the fact that the troops came in and took them when they did.

APE has made it clear they have cameras all over the place and can see everything going on yet the only thing they’ve made clear is that procreation is illegal, it’s the day after the pair had sex that the troops actually arrived and arrested them yet before then no matter how lovey dubby any character got with each other they never took any form of action against them. Thinking APE troops moved in because of the Wedding could be a red herring as we can clearly see APE never took the rings off the pair so clearly they don’t give a damn about the wedding and like kissing might just see it as nothing meaningful. Yet procreation is a huge taboo for them.

In my view the reason APE moved in to seize the pair was entirely because they had sex and Kokoro may be pregnant. What they intend to do from there is up for debate. Do they plan to use a future baby for an experiment or just have her abort the baby so it doesn’t impact with her ability to use a Franxx

Assuming she was pregnant the embryo would only be a couple days old, so it’s very unlikely it would be removed and raised just for the sheer hassle (i.e. why bother with that when you can make a new embryo with harvested eggs and sperm?). In this case I think abortion would be more likely.

Until we find out more such as how the parasites were created, however, I’m still inclined to think the only reason APE took Mitsuru and Kokoro was for what they knew. They’re the only ones who read and implemented the book material, the only ones to potentially go against Papa’s authority (as Hiro and Zero Two haven’t done more than snuggling at this stage). Mind wipe both of them and you largely contain the perceived problem. We’ll know soon enough though, I imagine those memories won’t stay wiped for too long.

@Pancakes
Mitsuru never get around to read this book.
Goro asked Mitusuru if Kokoro had told him about book, Mitsuru made a motion with his head saying no. and 9 Alpha confiscated the book after getting it.

Quite frankly, you didn’t even pay attention to the episodes and you still have the nerve to write the reviews about the episodes of this series. It’s no wonder then that people are always complaining about you, his comments and/or his reviews since the episode 2.

Considering that the idea of a natural pregnancy is alien to these people, they might not have bothered to check to see if she was pregnant or not. Heck, they didn’t even bother paying attention to the wedding rings.

Hiro joking and sacrificing people like Kokoro, Mitsuru and the rest of the members of the P13 squad who wouldn’t give a single fuck about you if you didn’t pilot franxx.
P13 squad knew eachothers their entire lvies and they were read to throw Hiro under the bus becasue he couldn’t pilot the franxx.
If anything Hiro’s actions are justified.

Meh. Super annoyed by the wedding.
Not because of who, or the fact that they did it.
Just super annoyed that these kids who grew up without any understanding at all of traditional relationships “somehow” knew too many details of modern western style weddings. That demon+prince story book did NOT detail all of those little things. And weddings throughout history and across places have always varied in the details.

So western wedding details all of a sudden *known* to these brats doesn’t make sense. Allow them a few things, like the dress, sure. That stuff can be learned from a picture. But exchanging rings? Ugh. If the rings are needed for story reasons in the future, plz at least let the kids “find” a book about wedding traditions or at least show us how they knew about rings, k thx.

To be fair Hiro is the only one who had some previous knowledge about the marriage. Zero Two learned the about the marriage with Hiro.

The anime has never ceased to emphasise that Hiro is a lover of the literature and devours any book that comes into his hands. He was always reading or carrying around a book as a child. Not to mention that Hiro was special, unlike everyone else and and that is why he was chosen as leader of all the children, then he had special privileges and access to restricted places as the Lab library. Hiro also attended the Lab, He customarily attended the Lab and his library too.

To be fair they at least mentioned something on the rings and finding out about it, although I agree they probably could have shown a picture like with idea of a wedding dress. Personally I thought the role of chaplain (played by Futoshi) and the whole walk down the isle/audience setup was weirder, there’s no way you glean all of the specifics from a few storybook pictures lol.

Kokoro memory wipe? Guess Futoshi still has a chance!
Seriously, I didn’t like the wedding? Why? Because in my opinion it didn’t further the plot when it’s so late in the show and we all knew that Papa would crash it.
They could have as well taken Kokoro & Mitsuru with them right in the morning and nothing would have been lost. And frankly, I find other characters more interesting as we already had enough drama with Mitsuru alone in dealing with his promise with Hiro.
Good closure regarding Ikuno’s circumstances though & interesting Hachi/Nana flashback.

I hope that Hiro & other kids will finally do something next episode as I’m getting annoyed seeing them get pushed around by the adults.

Basically what I’m saying is that people are just as entitled to post an opinion about something as you are and if you don’t like it, learn to deal with it or drop message boards entirely. You can’t have a proper discussion about anything if no one is prepared to be critical.

Until the site breakdown there wasn’t many civil discussions on this. One thing is having a discussion and other thing is being a little kid and memeing all day long because you are so edgy. And there is also hating because it’s fun to hate.

In general most of us are hands off when it comes to comments, but we will edit and/or delete anything too egregious. If a person wants to meme or complain it’s fine by me for example, so long as it doesn’t degenerate into deliberate attacks or insults on another. I’ve already edited quite a few comments this week for this reason.

We know what we are talking about. I’m not saying they can’t do it, I just say I don’t like it. The dino aids, the hiro being called beta cuck mc in the first episodes and all of that shit we know where it comes from and makes any discussion an unbearable childish show.

It’s free speech after all and the admins are the ones who mark the limit. But while practicing freedom is wise to also practice self restraint. There are forums for this type of behavior where everyone is happy to do so, but coming to a place where there are mostly civil discussions is just dumb and annoying to the usual users.

For all those who insisted and stated that 02 hadn’t used and killed the 10 stamens who DR FranXX had prepared for her in episode 14.

I’m sorry but I’ll have to burst their bubbles, here ( https://i.imgur.com/I5rQPDF.jpg ) is the proof that confirms that Zero had used and killed e 10 stamens who DR FranXX had prepared for her in episode 14 before piloting alone in stampede mode in the battle of episode 15.
three of the 10 stamens who DR FranXX had prepared for 02 in episode 14 are in the scenes below.

- to be fair i spoil just a little bit information, this Episode is heavy on the “Talk no Jutsu” field this time. It is also an necessary one if you want to know more of the World background. So if you are not afraid of “Talk no Jutsu” magic and want to know more, then watch it. All others can over jump this one and wait (or hope) for the next one